by R. Cort Kirkwood, The New American:
America First GOP Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky urged the U.S. House today to pass a resolution honoring the survivors of the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty 59 years ago. He also urged Congress to investigate the matter.
Massie called the brutal attack on the nearly defenseless intelligence-gathering ship — which left 34 Americans dead and 171 wounded — “intentional murder.”
Top American officials, including the late Admiral Thomas Moorer, chief of naval operations at the time, claimed that President Lyndon B. Johnson covered up the truth about the attack.
TRUTH LIVES on at https://sgtreport.tv/
59 years ago today, Israel attacked the USS Liberty in international waters. 34 crew members were killed and 174 were wounded by the IDF.
Today, I spoke on the House floor to honor the fallen and to recognize the survivors who were present in the gallery. pic.twitter.com/DK7WUFnKve
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) June 8, 2026
The Attack
In the synopsis of its documentary on the attack, Sacrificing Liberty, the ship’s veterans association says it was deliberate.
The ship was sailing in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of the Sinai Peninsula on June 8, 1967. Its mission: collect signals intelligence. The ship flew an American flag and was otherwise clearly marked.
“The attack was preceded by more than six hours of intense low-level surveillance by Israeli photo reconnaissance aircraft, which buzzed the ship as low as 200 feet directly overhead,” the association website says:
The carefully orchestrated assault that followed was initiated by high-performance jet aircraft. This was followed by slower and more maneuverable jets carrying napalm, and was finally turned over to lethal torpedo boats, which blasted a forty-foot hole in the ship’s side. The attack lasted more than two hours, deliberately killing 34 Americans and wounding at least 171 others. Over 821 rockets, cannon and machine gun holes were inflicted. When the Liberty stubbornly remained afloat despite her damage, Israeli forces machine-gunned her life rafts, firefighters, stretcher bearers, and sent … helicopters to finish the job, no survivors were to be taken. This is no short of a war crime.
Fighter jets sent to defend the ship from two American aircraft carriers, the USS America and USS Saratoga, were recalled.
Recalling the aircraft, Moorer wrote for the Houston Chronicle in 2004, “was the most disgraceful act I witnessed in my entire military career.”
As well, “Israeli reconnaissance aircraft closely studied the Liberty during an eight-hour period prior to the attack, one flying within 200 feet of the ship,” the former Joint Chiefs chairman wrote:
Weather reports confirm the day was clear with unlimited visibility. The Liberty was a clearly marked American ship in international waters, flying an American flag and carrying large U.S. Navy hull letters and numbers on its bow.
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